Capture in the Tunnels
by BrambleclawIsMyHomeboy12
Summary: AU To Tunnels of Blood. While down in the tunnels, Murlough finds Mr. Crepsley and Darren. With Mr. Crepsley taken captive, what will Darren and Evra have to do to get him back? I left the ending off of chapter 18, so it is now fixed! Please R
1. Chapter 1

** A/N I re-read Tunnels of Blood this morning and I decided to write this story because I hadn't seen one like it before. Hope you enjoy Please R&R Don't own saga or characters!**

_**This story is always going to be in Darren's POV!**_

_ We'd been searching for hours, but it felt longer. We were sweating and covered with dirt, our feet and pants were soaked through with filthy water. We were moving as fast as we could, making a lot of noise in the process. My ribs hurt to begin with, but I was over the worst of it now and barely noticed the stabbing pain as I bent and crouched down and twisted._

_ "Slow down!" Mr. Crepsley hissed several times. "He will hear you if you keep this up. WE must be more careful."_

_ "To hell with being careful!" I yelled back. "This is our last chance to find him. We've got to cover as much ground as possible. I don't care how much noise we make."_

_ "But if Murlough hears us—"Mr. Crepsley began._

_ "We'll chop his head off and stuff it with garlic!" I snarled, and moved ahead faster, making still more noise._

Right as I said that, a dark shape flew into Mr. Crepsley and the flashlight crashed against the opposite wall of the sewer.

"I found you Darren Shan. Young Murlough found you and Crepsley. Yes he did. Murlough is to smart for vampires. Yes he is." It was followed by a sickening laugh, and I strained my eyes to see the vampaneze in the solid black of the tunnels. I could only make out shapes in the darkness. Three shapes total. Three?

"I brought Snaky with me. Murlough knew you and Crepsley would come looking for me. Smart, young Murlough is, you see? So here is Snaky." One of the shapes was roughly pushed towards me in the tunnel.

"You're giving me Evra?" I was astonished.

"Yes. Young Murlough keeps his word to Darren Shan. You brought me Crepsley, so Snaky goes with you." He cackled again, and the sound of splashing water followed him as he ran down the tunnels.

"I kill Crepsley soon little half-vampire. Not today. But soon." One last laugh and the tunnels fell silent once again.

Choking back the shock that I felt, I leaned down tot help Evra up from the floor. Our plan had failed. Mr. Crepsley had been captured. Murlough was going to kill him. I swayed on my feet, as guilt rushed through my veins at the thought of the vampire dying. This was my fault.

If I hadn't suspected him as a killer and stopped him from killing Murlough the first time he could have, we wouldn't have been down here in the first place.

"Darren? Darren?" Evra voice broke me out of my trance. I looked at his scared face. I could see him better; my super-sharp eyes had adjusted to the blackness of the tunnels.

"Yeah?" I asked so quietly that he probably couldn't even hear me.

"I'm sorry." He paused, and looked right at me. "Is he really going to kill Mr. Crepsley?"

Him saying it just made it seem all the more real. I nodded weakly at Evra. "We have to get out of here." "I said to him.

"But--," Evra sputtered.

"No. We have to get out, and make a plan. It's the only chance we have of rescuing him. Let's go." I stepped around him, heading for the nearest exit from the tunnels. We walked for about an hour, my heart beating so hard it hurt. With each beat it seemed to punch at my chest and then at my insides.

I realized how much Mr. Crepsley had meant to me. He was the closes t thing to a father figure I had now. I pushed up the manhole, and me and Evra stepped out into the empty streets. The cold night air was a relief after the boiling tunnels, but it didn't make me feel any better.

I pulled Evra up and we ran down to the main street towards our new hotel. We ran through the lobby, earning us some confused looks form the desk clerk, and headed towards the steps at the far end of the room. We ran till we reached the third floor, and I shoved open our door.

Collapsing on the nearest bed, I laid there for a few minutes. Evra sat down on the other bed, staring miserably at the floor. I looked over at him. He had a few pink patches on his skin, where it looked like his scales had been hacked off of him.

That made me sick to my stomach. What was Murlough doing to Mr. Crepsley right now? Thinking of Mr. Crepsley made me miserable and I closed my eyes.

_"I'll kill Crepsley soon little half-vampire. Not today. But soon." _ Murlough's words rang in my ears, and my eyes sprang open. He wasn't going to kill Mr. Crepsley until at least tomorrow. I had a few hours to save him. The thought gave me new energy, and I sprang from the bed.

Evra looked at me, his eyes stretched wide with shock at my sudden movements. "I've got an idea. But I need your help, and someone else's."

**(A/N) Sorry for the cliffhanger. :) Please R&R, I need your opinion. That way I'll know if I should continue!**


	2. Chapter 2

I pulled Evra down the deserted streets of the square. We went straight to Debbie's house, and even though I knew that all of the Hemlock's would be asleep by now, I had to talk to Debbie. We needed her help. Using my elongated nails, I picked the lock on the front door and stepped into the dark house.

Evra followed me as I raced up the stairs to the attic where me and Mr. Crepsley had put the unconscious family only hours ago. Quieter now, I pushed open the door and stepped inside. All three of them were sleeping peacefully, and I could make out Debbie's shape on the far end of the room. Stepping quickly and quietly around Jesse and Donna, I went to Debbie and picked her up in my arms.

I stepped back out into the hallway, my unconscious girlfriend sleeping in my arms. "We have to wake her up Evra." I whispered to him.

He looked confused, racking his brain for a solution. Suddenly his eyes sparkled with idea, and he gestured for me to follow him down the stairs. We rushed down and Evra led me into the kitchen. He stepped over the sink and filled up a pitcher with icy water. I set Debbie down on the table, and stuck my hands into the water.

As much as I hated doing this, I had no choice. Gathering a handful of cold water I flung it into her face. She woke up and would have unleashed a scream that would have woken half the neighborhood, but Evra clamped a hand over her mouth. She breathed heavily for a few seconds and then calmed down once she saw it was us.

"Debbie. Do you trust me?" She nodded. I motioned for Evra to take his hand off her mouth.

"What are you doing?" She asked at me, glaring at me with big eyes.

"I need your help." I told her, "Mr. Crepsley's been captured."

She gave me a really weird look, which confused me for a second. Then I realized my mistake.

"My dad." I said, trying to fix my error, Debbie had no idea who Mr. Crepsley was.

"Okay. So you need me to help you rescue your dad from where he's been captured." She said sarcastically. "Alright, let's go." She stared at me, wanting an explanation.

"Please Debbie. Bring a flashlight and come with us. Me and Evra will explain everything on the way." She gave me a long look, holding my stare until she saw that I was desperate and telling the truth. She nodded and got up.

She reached up into the cabinet of cleaning supplies and pulled out three flashlights. Handing us each one, she turned to lead us out the front door. "Wait." I whispered, and idea suddenly hitting me.

I rushed over to the silverware drawer and pulled out six of the biggest knives that there were. Handing a pair to Debbie and a pair to Evra, I headed for the door. I figured that if worst came to worst and we had to fight Murlough to get Mr. Crepsley back, we should at least be armed.

We headed to the manhole that me and Evra had first crawled out of. On the way I started to explain things to Debbie.

"Okay, I know this is going to sound absolutely ridiculous, but you have to believe me." Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best way to start. "Mr. Crepsley, the guy I've been calling my father has been kidnapped by an insane murderer who lives in here." I kicked the cover off the manhole and peered into it.

"A murderer? Kidnapped? Darren, you're not making any sense." Debbie said. I sighed.

"You know the six people who have been killed recently, drained of blood?" She nodded. "That guy has my dad. His name is Murlough."

Her eyes grew wide with shock, and one by one we dropped into the sewers with no more questions from her. I flicked on the light of my flashlight, flicking it over the dripping sewer. The light caught something in the gloom. Something white. Topped with red. Accented with purple.

"Hello Darren Shan," Murlough said, his weird accent showing. All three of us turned our flashlights on his face and Debbie gasped with horrified shock. "Young Murlough knew you would come to save Crepsley. Smart Young Murlough is. Yes, very smart."

I glared daggers at the insane vampaneze. "Where's Mr. Crepsley?" I demanded, stepping closer to him, but Evra jerked me back.

"Crepsley? What makes you think vampire is still alive Darren Shan? Hum? He could be dead couldn't he?" Murlough laughed at my enraged face.

"You said you wouldn't kill him today. You can't go back on your word, Murlough." I snarled at him.

"True little half-vampire. Crepsley is still alive, still alive in my tunnels. I won't kill him yet Darren Shan. Not for a while." Murlough looked at me, gauging my reaction. "He's much better company than Snaky. Snaky's not a fighter like Crepsley. Crepsley's much more fun."

"I'll kill you!" I yelled, but he didn't pay me any attention.

"Bye-bye little half-vampire." Murlough cackled madly, and took off down the hallway, hitting flitting speed in seconds.

"That's him?" Debbie asked her voice barely above a whisper. "That's who has your dad?"

"Let's go." I readjusted my flashlight and we started down the hall, not answering Debbie's question. She already knew what I would say, so she wasn't really expecting a reply.

Our brief encounter with Murlough had shaken me to the core, but as we marched steadily through the muck in the sewer, I realized that his words were really the only thing giving us hope. They only guarantee that Mr. Crepsley was still alive.


	3. Chapter 3

Swallowing the bile that rose forcefully in my throat, I led me, Debbie, and Evra forward through the murky tunnels. All around us the disgusting sewage water surged, soaking all of us to the bone, and it dripped of f the walls, getting on our hair and torso's. But the disgusting water wasn't what made me sick, to be honest, I could care less about it.

The twists and knots in my stomach were from not knowing. Mr. Crepsley was down here in the tunnels somewhere. A place that we had no knowledge of, with an insane sadistic killer, who happened to hate Mr. Crepsley more than anything else in the world. I also had no idea whether or not Mr. Crepsley was actually alive or not, I knew that vampaneze couldn't lie, but relying on the word of someone like Murlough didn't exactly seem the smartest thing to do.

However, that was the only option we had. Rely on Murlough's word, and hunt through the sewage system until we find Mr. Crepsley. That was our only plan. Not exactly the greatest plan in the world, but it was the only thing we could do.

We moved at a steady pace. Trudging through the water as fast as we could. My brain was entirely focused on finding the tunnel that would lead us to my mentor and his captor, so when there actually was a hint I completely missed it.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and spun around so fast that my flashlight almost went flying through the air. "Darren! Calm down." It was Evra.

"Calm Down! How can you-"A scaly hand clamped over my mouth.

"Listen." He hissed, literally. I obeyed and strained my sensitive ears to find out what noise he was talking about. I heard it, a soft, barely audible noise.

I pushed Evra off of me and followed it slowly, stepping lightly so I made no noise in the tunnels. A laugh. A voice. A different voice.

The closer I got, the more noticeable the voices became. I continued to step softly, silently, so I didn't disrupt the soft noise, for fear of losing it. The volume got louder, but I couldn't make out who it was. The only thing I could tell was that it was voices, two voices.

A loud sickening laugh floated down towards us, freezing my blood as it flowed. It was defiantly Murlough. That meant the other person was more than likely Mr. Crepsley. At least I hoped it was.

Pure adrenaline shot through my veins and my muscles tensed, ready to sprint to save my mentor. But my brain won out. If I went running into the room, Murlough and Mr. Crepsley could be gone long before I had a chance to stop them. Instead, I moved over close to the walls and strained my ears, counting on them to guide me to the missing vampire and the mad vampaneze.

Evra and Debbie followed my lead. Debbie had turned two shades paler than normal, I knew that she had finally heard the voice of Murlough, and knew that our conflict with him was drawing closer the farther we went. Evra looked scared, but put on a strong face, and gave me thumbs up.

I drew out my two knives, preparing for the fight that would inevitably come. Debbie and Evra followed suit. The voice grew louder now, just one voice now. Murlough's voice. I had no idea what he was saying, and personally I didn't care that much. I swallowed nervously and rounded a corner of the tunnel we were in.

And froze.

(A/N) Sorry for the Cliffhanger, again! :0 Thanks for reviewing, five reviews, that's awesome! :) LOL.


	4. Chapter 4

_**(A/N) Sorry for the long wait people, I have been really busy lately. Hope this chapter was worth the wait. Please R&R. **_

My flashlight beam poured rough light into the small cavern we were standing in front of. Evra and Debbie stepped up behind me, but I didn't pay them any attention. I was to busy trying to figure out exactly what this thing was.

It looked horribly similar to a medieval prison cell, the kind that they showed in movies. There was a thick layer of dirt on the floor, and the walls were covered in muck, and well as something red that could only be blood. A couple of randomly placed skulls littered the rough stone floor, along with some bones. But there was no sign of Murlough or Mr. Crepsley.

I turned around to look at Evra and Debbie, getting ready to ask them what they thought we should do from here when I saw Debbie's face. She was frozen in horror, every drop of color gone from her face. Her beautiful eyes were stretched wide, staring at the horrible room in front of us. Evra looked nervous, and I realized that this was probably were Murlough had kept him captive this last few days.

I quickly turned around, unable to look at Debbie's face when it was like that anymore. I gazed back into the small cavern, and noticed a door. It blended into the stone and if it hadn't been for my eyes being so sensitive, I probably would have never noticed it at all. I stepped forward slowly, watching for Murlough to spring out of the darkness at any time.

But nothing happened. The voices that had led us to this spot died out. The silence pounded in my ears, threatening to explode my eardrums. My heart sped up; thumping to the point that I knew it must be audible to Debbie and Evra. All this because of that door. I had no idea what to expect was behind it, I couldn't have even begun to guess. But I had to find out. So swallowing my nerves, I stepped forward again, drawing ever nearer to it.

Two more steps and I was there. It was an old door knob, brass and carved into with designs. I grasped the elaborate handle in my sweaty palms and pushed it open.

I was disoriented at first; the room was pitch black, even the light from my flashlight seemed dim in here. It had a musty smell, damp and dark, and soft noises, like tiny sighs, were coming from the far corner of the room we were in.

My breath froze in my lungs as I turned my beam towards the corner. The pale illumination showed Murlough, his purple skin and red hair clashing horribly with his white suit. He was asleep, tiny snores escaping out of his slightly open mouth. My light hadn't woken him up, so I took a chance and let out a slow breath, the air escaping in a soft hiss.

In the still black room, I felt Debbie and Evra step up beside me. I stuck out my arms, catching them before they could go any further, and clamped my hand over Evra's mouth before he could ask questions. I redirected the flashlight beam, this time moving got scan the room.

Bones littered on the floor, dark red stains on the walls, and a thick layer of grime on everything in the room. I swept the beam across the other side of the wall, and passed over it the first time. Like a movie, I just looked completely past it, moving the light on to something that I thought was more important.

My brain recognized that I had missed something, and I moved the light back in the direction it came from. Hanging upside down, smeared with blood, covered in bruises was Mr. Crepsley.

I gasped, as did Evra and Debbie, and I stepped forward to my mentor. He was unconscious, his eyes closed. His red shirt was decorated with huge gashes, all leaking red blood that filled the space with its bitter scent. His pale skin was marked with several deep purple bruises, giving his skin a pattern that reminded me of a tie-dye shirt. He was hanging by his feet, the ropes attaching him to the ceiling, and his position made all of his red hair hanging down.

I was debating how to get him down. The ropes would be very hard to cut through; they were digging into this skin, tight enough to cut into his skin. Cutting them would be very difficult and potentially dangerous. I could end up cutting one of his veins if I tried that. Suddenly, I had the solution.

"Evra," I nudged his arm with a hushed whisper. "Do you think you and Debbie can lift me up? I need to get to those ropes."

Evra shrugged; well he moved his shoulders up and down in the darkness. And then he crouched down and held out one of his hands. Debbie did the same thing, and together they lifted me up, to where I was eye-level with Mr. Crepsley's black dress shoes. Quietly as I could manage, I started to saw through the knotted ropes that suspended him from the ceiling. I sliced through the one above his left leg easily, but the right presented a few more problems.

I had to have been made of a different material because it was at least twice as strong as the other side. But eventually I cut threw it. Now he was hanging by only a thread, literally.

"Hey." I whispered down to Debbie and Evra. "Let me go, and catch Mr. Crepsley." I gripped the rope still tied to the ceiling as my support from my friends disappeared. I swung my knife and watched as Mr. Crepsley fell to the ground, only to be caught by Debbie and Evra seconds later.

Breathing a tiny sigh of relief, I dropped down to the ground. They had Mr. Crepsley stretched out between them, with Evra supporting his head, and Debbie supporting his legs. A loud snort from the other side of the room jerked me out of my relief.

I whipped around, flipping on the flashlight beam to point in the corner that held the sleeping vampaneze. But he had only turned away from us in what appeared to be restless sleep. I let out a ling breath that I hadn't even realized I was holding.

"I'll get him." I said to Debbie, handing her the flashlight, and followed her as we headed out of the dark room into the tunnels. We walked in silence, and I looked at Mr. Crepsley's still form, worry and guilt infused through my blood. We were walking quickly, making good progress through the tunnels of blood, when a rough hand clasped my shoulder, probably wrenching it out of place, and slamming our group to a halt.

A voice came to my ear, a voice full of blood, and rage, "Going somewhere little vampire?"


	5. Chapter 5

My blood froze, along with my brain. Murlough took complete advantage of that. Using the hand gripping my shoulder, he flung me into the nearest wall. I heard Debbie scream, and Mr. Crepsley hit the water. My flashlight shattered as my arm hit the stones, shooting off a shower of sparks and then casting us all into darkness.

"Run! Take Mr. Crepsley and RUN!" I screamed at Evra and Debbie. A foot landed in my ribcage, leaving me winded and unable to move. My eyes had adjusted and I saw Murlough move to where my friends were desperately trying to see their way to escape.

He was coming up behind Debbie. Still gasping for air, I reached for my knives. I never had the chance to throw it. Evra launched his at the vampaneze, and the blade lodged deep in Murlough's left shoulder. Then he turned on his flashlight.

Debbie screamed at the sight of blood pouring from Murlough, but we didn't have time for her to be scared. I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of Murlough's reach, no that he was paying attention to her, he was to busy getting the knife out of his shoulder.

I grabbed Mr. Crepsley off the floor, he was surprisingly light, or maybe it was just the adrenaline rush that filled my body with pure energy. We ran for the exit, leaving a howling Murlough behind us. With Evra's flashlight to guide us, and the vampaneze's cries growing more and more distant, it seemed like we could do anything.

But at the height of our triumph, tragedy. Evra's flashlight flickered, once, twice, and then it died. Leaving us in darkness.

"Don't panic." I said, even though on the inside I felt really nauseous. "If you panic, we'll just get confused."

I turned around to face them; I could barely make them out it the pitch black darkness. "Evra, help me get Mr. Crepsley." I said, suddenly the vampire seemed to way thirty more pounds.

Evra stepped up next to me, and grabbed Mr. Crepsley's legs. It took a bit of maneuvering, but we got him in a comfortable position for both of us.

I looked up, and realized that I had no idea which way we were supposed to go. With all that turning, I didn't now which way was which, Panic flooded my brain, my heart sped up, and my brain rushed straight to my temples. Looking at Evra I could tell he felt exactly the same way.

"A loud growling reached my ears as the panic settled on me. "You can't escape Darren Shan. Young Murlough will find you in his tunnels, yes he will. You can't hide." Murlough!

Pardon my French but, Oh Shit! If he found us now, there was almost nothing we could do. Evra had only one knife, Debbie was nearly petrified, and none of us had a flashlight. Loud splashes echoed through the cavern, it was literally minutes, maybe seconds, before he found us.

Realizing that even though we didn't know which way to go, we should just go in the opposite direction of Murlough. I nodded my head and Evra and Debbie, we headed slowly back down the tunnels. I was concentrating so hard on getting away from Murlough and listening for him, that I didn't even notice when Mr. Crepsley started moving around, well, he tried to, but when you're suspended almost two feet above ground, that's not the easiest thing in the world to do.

"Darren?" He said roughly, his voice sounded like it had been cut up and then pieced back together. "What are you doing?"

I snapped my attention from Murlough to him, and stooped dead in the middle of a step. I dropped his feet into the water I was so surprised. Debbie and Evra stared at him with wide eyes, while he sat down in the bottom of the tunnel, pulling himself out of Evra's grip.

"Why are you three down here? And who are you?" He looked at Debbie. And then at us.

"I'm sorry but we really don't have time to explain, okay. That's Debbie and we rescued your from Murlough, Okay?" I explained hurriedly, and then stuck out a hand to help him up.

"You killed Murlough?" He asked his eyes wide.

"Well, actually----" I didn't have to finish. The vampaneze himself flew out of the darkness and slammed into Mr. Crepsley. Holding the bloody knife Evra had thrown at him, to my mentor's throat.

"Good job rescuing Crepsley, little vampire." Murlough laughed, and pulled the knife tighter to Mr. Crepsley's throat. I pulled out my knives, while Murlough backed slowly away from us, back toward the disgusting hole he lived in.

With one last laugh, he took off running back in the direction he came from.

Not caring if Evra and Debbie followed. Not caring if I died. Not caring if it was stupid. With the blood pounding in my ears, I took off after him.

**(A/N) Yay! Updates! Hope you liked this chapter, I'm open to suggestions guys! Please R&R :)**


	6. Chapter 6

I flew down the black tunnels. Ignoring my friend's calls for me to stop. I sloshed through the icy water, not really paying any attention to the filth that stuck to me as I ran. I saw red. I couldn't think straight. I was completely taken with rage. Murlough had gone too far. He had had the nerve to capture Mr. Crepsley in the first place, he made fun of me, and now he had taken him again, that was enough.

My pace sped up, my feet barely touching the floor. I could hear them up ahead; I was gaining slowly on them. I had to catch up because I had no idea whether or not the tunnels continued past Murlough's "room", and if they did there was little hope that I would ever catch them.

Vaguely, it graced my conscience that Debbie and Evra were pounding after me in my mad attempt to save Mr. Crepsley.

"You can't catch me Darren Shan. I'll kill Crepsley while you rot in my tunnels." Murlough yelled back at me. I snarled, and ran faster. I knew we had to be reaching the end soon. I was right.

I ran into the open cavern, it looked exactly the same, except for the fact that Murlough was standing by the doorway to the back room, holding a knife to Mr. Crepsley's throat so hard that blood was trickling onto his already blood-stained shirt. I skidded to a halt, no the easiest thing to do in a sewage tunnel, but I managed.

I held my two knives out, and got ready to charge Murlough. "I wouldn't do that little half-vampire. Come closer and I'll kill Crepsley." Murlough glared at me. I knew he was dead serious, and my blood ran cold. I couldn't leave Mr. Crepsley down here, Murlough would kill him. I couldn't try to save Mr. Crepsley, Murlough would kill him. I was stuck.

"Darren!" A gushed yell from behind me, caused me to turn around. It was Debbie and Evra! They had caught up to us. Evra looked winded, and anxious. While Debbie, looked, well, petrified. But determined.

"Give him back Murlough. You can't kill him." I turned back to him, a fire in my eyes.

"What makes you say that Darren Shan? Hum? I could kill Crepsley if I wanted to. It's no that hard." Murlough pressed his knife tighter into Mr. Crepsley's throat, increasing the small stream of blood, and smiled coldly at me.

"You can't kill him. The Vampire Generals will use that as an excuse to start a war." I told him, looking my eyes with his blood-red ones. "If he dies, so do you. And all of your people."

Murlough looked uncertain, like he almost believed me, but then the doubt disappeared. "No one will know. I'll kill all of you and leave you in my tunnels. No one will find you." Murlough said, although it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, more than he was convincing me.

"They would track Mr. Crepsley down by his mental signals." I told him. We had briefly discussed mental signals, but I had no idea if what I had just said was true.

The vampaneze looked uneasy and his eyes kept shifting, but he didn't answer me. I took the time to look at Mr. Crepsley. He had his eyes closed, and I had no idea if he was conscious or not. Looking at the state he was in, I knew that we would not be getting any help from him against Murlough, and if we did manage to survive, we would probably have to carry him out. Not that I was having hopes for that scenario at the moment.

"I'll run. Young Murlough will run Darren Shan. I'll kill Crepsley, you, Snaky and your girlfriend. Then I'll leave." He flashed me a triumphant smile, and I didn't have an argument. He jerked Mr. Crepsley's head backwards, exposing the vampire's neck, and pushed the knife into it.

Without thinking, I ran forward and slammed into him before he had the chance to get the blade in to deep. It flashed through my brain that this was suicide, but hey, to late now. I gripped his left hand, the one holding the blade, and pulled it off Mr. Crepsley.

Murlough growled and reached his arms out for my neck. I pulled out my knife and took a chunk out of his arm, leaving him howling. I pulled Mr. Crepsley away from the vampaneze, and stood up. I raised my knife and positioned it to swing. But Murlough was to fast.

Kicking out with one of his legs, he sent me flying into the water at the bottom of the tunnel, the knife in my hand went flying across the cavern, and I was left weaponless. As soon as he had kicked me, Murlough landed on top of me, his hands wrapped tightly around my throat.

I could hear myself gasping for breath as he tried to strangle the life out of me. But I didn't feel scared, I only felt the adrenaline in my blood, all the noises and sights of what was really going on faded into the background and I could only hear the blood pulsing into my head.

I trained my eyes on Murlough's face, desperately trying to concentrate as the world started to go black. Almost too late, I remembered my second knife, still attached to my belt loop. Reaching down I gripped the smooth handle and pulled it out. Shoving forward, I rammed it into Murlough's stomach, spilling a torrent of vampaneze blood all over the two of us.

He gasped and loosened his grip on my throat, allowing me to get air in my exhausted lungs. I shoved him off and backed away from him quickly.

He was laying there, gasping as the blood flowed, turning the water around us a sickening red. I just stared at him, until his body finally stilled for what I thought was the last time. But he looked up at me, gesturing to me with one hand.

Shuddering, I walked over to him, and leaned down. "C-cle-evr boy Hu-mm?" And then he smiled blankly at me, and collapsed to the floor of the tunnel, dead.

I turned around slowly, both horrified and relieved at what had just happened. I had killed him. Gut wrenching guilt, and triumph were mixing in my body, making me dizzy. But looking at Mr. Crepsley and the flow of blood coming from him, I knew that that was the least of our problem.

(A/N) Hey people. New Chapter, hope you liked it. I wanted you all to keep in mind, that if there are any grammatical errors, etc., that this story has not beta reader, and is written entirely on improve. I do not pre-plan. I'm open to criticism; hope you liked, please R&R.

Vote on the next chapter: Do you think Mr. C will die? Or will he live?


	7. Chapter 7

I just stared at them for a moment, not really taking in the scene in front of me. I was exhausted, and my brain wasn't functioning at anywhere near its normal speed. I saw Debbie move out of her horror stricken trance where she had been watching me and Murlough fight, and move over to Mr. Crepsley in the dark water. Evra went with her, glancing at me with terror in his eyes. I didn't know if he was scared of me, scared for me, or scared for Mr. Crepsley. I hoped it was the last one.

Finally my brain seemed to send the message to my legs that I needed to go over and help my mentor. I walked over and got on my hands and knees, looking down at him from my point next to Debbie. The cut on his neck didn't look to deep, but I wasn't a doctor, it could nave nicked a major vein and I wouldn't have been able to tell.

"We have to get out of the tunnels." I announced taking charge of the situation, even though I had never been more scared in my life. I stood up and pulled my dirty button-up shirt off my body. Leaning back down over Mr. Crepsley I wrapped it tight around his neck, like those wool scarves my mother used to wear all the time. Not to tight, so he could breathe, but tight enough to help stop the blood flow.

"Help me get him." I told Evra, and he did, grabbing Mr. Crepsley's feet while I carefully picked him up under the arms. "Debbie go in front with the flashlight. Hurry." She nodded and followed my directions.

All of us were tired, exhausted actually, form our travels through the tunnels and our run inn's with the now dead Murlough, but we kept up a quick pace, fear making our feet move quickly. I couldn't stop looking at Mr. Crepsley's still face, his head resting on my upper rib cage as me and Evra carried him through the tunnels. I had no idea how much pain he was in, I knew he wasn't conscious, but I also didn't know if you could feel pain when you were unconscious. It was driving me insane.

Finally, after what seemed like hours we reached the manhole we had climbed in. Thank god it was still dark outside, the earlier in the morning it was the fewer people would be out on the streets and the less of a threat sunlight would be to Mr. Crepsley.

"We should go to the hotel." I said, looking at Debbie and Evra.

"But--," Debbie started, looked at Mr. Crepsley, and stopped. "Lets go." She said quietly. She got in front of me and Evra and led us down the streets toward our new hotel. We followed her; the streets were silent, no one was moving around on Christmas Morning, especially not at 4 a.m.

We came to our hotel, and stepped through the front door, trying to look inconspicuous. It sort-of worked. The desk manager was some thirty year old guy, who had defiantly been hitting the happy juice that night. The only person who really bothered to look at us was an elderly man who was drinking coffee on the Early Bird Breakfast table. We punched in the floor number on the elevator and started our long ride up.

We rode in silence, but the fear in the room was obvious. It thickened the air in the tiny moving room, and for the first time in my life, I was claustrophobic. Eventually, we reached d the 23rd floor, and quickly got of. The awkwardness of the whole situation getting to us all. Supporting Mr. Crepsley with one arm, I fished through my pocket for the room key and eventually found it.

Debbie swiped it through and we hurried into the room. Me and Evra went over to the beds and dropped Mr. Crepsley on to the nearest one. I pulled my shirt off of his neck gently, being careful not to shake his head. He flinched and gritted his teeth as I touched the skin on his throat, making sure the bleeding had stopped.

There was only a thin trickle of blood coming from the knife wound now. But that worried me more that it made me happy. With my shirt as a tourniquet, the bleeding should have stopped along time ago, but it was still bleeding. He had other wounds too, some of which looked a lot worse than the one on his neck.

"Evra, help me." I gestured to my snake-friend. Together we pulled Mr. Crepsley's shirt off. Well, actually, we peeled it off. The blood and dirty water had plastered it to his skin, and getting it off was not exactly easy.

Debbie gasped in horror when we finally got his shirt off, while me and Evra just kind-of stared in shock. He looked awful. His ribcage was a sickening shade of purple, like someone had whacked him a few times with a metal baseball bat. There were long gashes, and deep purple bruises all over the rest of his torso. His skin reminded me of those multi-colored tie-dye shirts they sell at clothing stores and flea markets. The splotches were randomly placed, in no pattern; some were close together, while others were spread farther apart. Like Murlough had left Mr. Crepsley hanging and just randomly beat him up when the mood struck him. I shuddered at the thought.

Looking back over the wounds, I knew that human medication wouldn't be any help; the situation was as good as hopeless. "What do we do?" Debbie's voice squeaked out, so different than normal. I looked at her, unable to answer her question.

We all met each others eyes, and at the same moment, Debbie and Evra realized the same thing that I had already figured out. Human medication wouldn't help him at all, it would be useless.

I looked back at my mentor, lying on the bed, blood-stained and dying, and suddenly got an n idea. It just popped into my head, like a light bulb. "Move." I told Evra.

He looked at me, and then stepped sideways. I lifted up Mr. Crepsley's hand and cut over his already made scars, and then did the same to his other hand. I swallowed back my nervousness as I did the same to my hands.

Drawing in a sharp breath, I put my bloody fingertips to my unconscious mentor's.

(A/N)Poor Darren. Keep voting on Mr. C's survival, or death, you'll find out what happens next chapter. Please R&R, hope you enjoyed!

Check out , for my wordle that goes with this story! Go to Gallery,adn type in "Capture in the Tunnels in the search bar! It goes with this story, my pen name is the same!


	8. Chapter 8

The pear was almost unbearable. If I had shut my eyes, I would have pulled my fingers away, but I didn't. I forced my self to keep them open and look at Mr. Crepsley, to remind myself why I was doing this. It was slower this time; at least it was slower than it was when I was turned into a half-vampire. Mr. Crepsley's heart rate was probably slower than normal, which just dragged out the process. It reached my heart, and I held back an agonized scream, a scream that would have given us away instantly.

I pulled my fingers off a few moments after that, and for a test, licked the scars. It worked, as I watched they healed themselves over, making ten tiny scars just like last time. I looked at Mr. Crepsley and did the same thing. His blood tasted like rotten fruit and salty Kool-aid.

I thought about my plan for a moment and realized what a huge gamble I had taken. To be honest, I was betting that my spit would be able to heal wounds that advanced medicine couldn't. If it worked, Mr. Crepsley would live, and everything would be great. If it didn't, I would be left alone as a full vampire with no idea how to take care of my self. Like my dad always said, the risks are huge, but the rewards are great.

I made the mistake of looking at Evra and Debbie. Evra looked shocked, he new what I had done. But Debbie, she looked terrified, and disgusted. "Darren wh-what did you just do?" She asked me, staring at my fingers.

Debbie had no idea about vampires. She didn't know anything about me, or Mr. Crepsley. If I told her, she would probably hate me, but that was the risk I had to take. "Debbie, calm down, nothing's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong?" She said in a hushed whisper, "What did you just do, because it looked like you put his blood in your fingers!" She was whispering and her voice was tight with fear, but the volume was getting louder.

"I think I should explain what's going one." I took a deep breath. "Debbie, Mr. Crepsley is a vampire. Vampires aren't bad, they don't kill people. Vampaneze do. Vampaneze like Murlough."

I let her take that in before continuing. She stared at me in shock; of all the explanation I could have said at this point, she probably wasn't expecting that one. "I was a half-vampire, meaning I could go out in sunlight, but know I'm a full vampire. That's what just happened."

I waited for her to say something, but she didn't she just stared at me. Her brown eyes looking straight into my blue ones. I knew she could see I was telling the truth, but I could also tell she was having a hard time accepting it. Looking desperately at Evra for help, I turned back to Mr. Crepsley.

I gathered up a big mouthful of my now healing spit in my mouth, and spit it into my hands. I took two fingers and rubbed it onto the cut on his throat, and then over all the other places that were gashed on his body. I rubbed over them slowly. Making sure the whole cut got spit on it, and I had to get more several times.

Finally, I was finished. I stepped backwards, away from Mr. Crepsley, and turned to look at Debbie and Evra. I could see slow acceptance in her eyes as she looked over at me, and Mr. Crepsley. She had finally realized that I was telling the truth about me and my mentor. And that we weren't evil. Although, I think our experience with Murlough in the tunnels had done more to convince her of that than what I had had to say.

I turned back to Mr. Crepsley, most of the cuts were slowly healing themselves, like the skin would stitch itself back together, but others stayed open, like the spit had had no effect on them whatsoever. They still gushed blood, and the spit had no effect at all on the bruises.

Mr. Crepsley twitched as the cuts healed, spilling blood all over the comforters but I didn't care about that. There was too much blood, it was making me sick and numb, even though I was a vampire. I felt hot tears roll down my face, burning my face as they rolled down. I had never felt this useless. I didn't know if he was going to die. If he was, there was nothing I could do.

Still crying, still hopeless, I flopped down on the other bed and stared at Mr. Crepsley. Watching as he fought death.

(A/N) So I lied, sorry, you'll find out if he lives or dies in the next chapter. I have already decided, but if enough people vote for one thing, I could change it! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please R&R Keep voting!


	9. Chapter 9

**(A/N) I posted two chapters, I'm so happy with myself. So, if you read this and it doesn't really make any sense, back up one, and read the last chapter. Things will work better that way. **

I felt Debbie and Evra sit down on the bed to. Evra put his face in his hands and watched Mr. Crepsley through his fingers, while Debbie just sat on the edge of the bed, with her hands pressed together and her legs crossed at the ankles. I felt sorry for her, she had just gone on a manhunt through the sewers of the city she lived in, and she had just found out I was a vampire. Her life probably did not make very much sense at the moment.

Mr. Crepsley groaned loudly, causing me to snap my attention back to him. He turned himself up on his side, and his eyes fluttered open. They were green like usual, but they were glazed over form what I guessed what pain and shock. He blinked at us, once, twice, three times. Then tried to sit up.

Halfway up he let out a long breath and collapsed back on the bed, which was now stained with dark red vampire blood. His blood. He turned his head back to me, and looked at me a minute before speaking.

"Thanks." That was all he said, before looking back at the ceiling. It was the first time I had ever heard Mr. Crepsley say "thanks", it was always "Thank you", but I guess being proper wasn't exactly the most important thing on his mind at the moment.

I couldn't help myself, I smiled. Then it went to hell. To start Mr. Crepsley's whole body stiffened up, every muscle in his body just went rigid, and he blacked out. A loud scraping on the window at the back of the room caused me to jump frantically off the bed.

Evra and Debbie followed suit, and my hands flew instinctively to my knife latched on to my belt loop. I stepped back in a defensive position in front of Mr. Crepsley, taking the probability that whatever had just broken into the window was not a friend. Backing up to the point that my calves were pressing into the mattress I stared towards the window, waiting on whoever it was to make themselves known.

"Larten!" A loud whisper came from the window. I knew that voice. "Larten! Where are you?"

Stepping into the light, obviously not noticing us—although I didn't know how they could—was Gavner Purl.

"Gavner!" I was shocked, what in the world was he doing here. "What in the hell are you doing here?"

Gavner looked up at us, shocked. Then down at our knives, and then back up at my face. He looked worried. "Darren, where's Larten, its important?" Gavner asked. His tone worried me.

I glanced over at Evra, he could tell something was wrong, and then at Debbie, who just looked really confused. "Darren," she said softly, "I'm going to go home. Maybe I'll see you later." She looked at me, sadness in her gaze. She knew I would probably never see her again; I could no longer go out in daylight.

But I couldn't stop her. It was best for her to leave, especially since Gavner was here now.

"Bye Debbie." I said hoarsely and then watched her leave. I noticed she left the two knives I had given her on the bed before giving me a sad look and she left. I turned my attention back to Gavner who was staring at me. The one time I had met him, he was a funny guy with a smile on his face, but he looked dead serious, and I could see fear playing in his eyes.

"Where's Larten at Darren?" His voice was quieter than it had been. I was confused, Mr. Crepsley was lying right there, oh yeah, he probably couldn't see him. I stepped away from the bed so Gavner could see him.

His eyes widened at the sight of his old friend. Well, I couldn't blame him for staring; Mr. Crepsley was drenched in his own blood and decorated with dark bruises. To be honest, I could see why Gavner was shocked Mr. Crepsley looked like hell.

"It's worse than I thought." Gavner whispered under his breath, almost too where I couldn't hear it. In fact had he been hear a half hour ago, I would have still been a half-vampire, and I wouldn't have been able to hear him.

"What's worse?" I asked, genuinely confused. Did he know that Mr. Crepsley was injured? And if he did, how?

"Is the vampaneze dead?" Gavner looked at me.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked, really not understanding where he was going with this.

"Did Larten kill him?" Gavner asked, switching his gaze from me to Mr. Crepsley, and then back to me. I shook my head. "Then who did?" He looked surprised now, and confused.

"He took Mr. Crepsley captive, so me, Debbie and Evra went looking for him. I killed him." I explained.

"You?" Gavner almost yelled. "You killed Murlough! How?"

"I stabbed him. What's going on?" I was really worried now.

"Darren." He started, and then stopped, like he was trying to figure out how to say this. "The vampaneze came into the city, looking for Murlough to tell him that he either had to bury the evidence of his killing better, or they would kill him."

That sunk in slowly. There were more vampaneze in the city. My immediate thought was Debbie, and that she wouldn't be safe, but Gavner wouldn't have come all the way here to tell me that. "And?"

"As you can imagine they found Murlough in the tunnels, dead." He closed his eyes for a second, and rubbed the scars on his face. "They found Larten's blood on his body, and your scent on a knife lodged in a wall of the tunnels."

I thought over what that meant as he stopped again. The pieces didn't really add up. Okay, so vampaneze had come to the city, and found out that we killed Murlough, I didn't really see a problem with that. But something was there, something obvious I was missing, it was just outside of my thoughts, but I knew it was important.

"So?" That's all I could think to say.

"Darren. You killed a vampaneze. They think it was either you or Larten." I got that, captain obvious. I waited.

"They're coming to kill you."

**(A/N) So Mr. C didn't die, I was going to have him die, but so many people said that he shouldn't, I decided no to, yet. This story will continue, so yeah, you never know what's going to happen. Please R&R.**


	10. Chapter 10

(A/N) Yay, New Chapter! I posted two yesterday, so if you haven't read chapter nine, this will not make sense! Also, I wanted to clarify something.  
Darren is 14, or at least, he looks 14.  
Evra is 16 and a half. It's important.

My brain, my heart, and my blood froze right where it was. The world blurred in front of me, and I swayed on my feet. My breath hitched and I nearly choked myself before regaining control of my body.

"Why?" I finally managed to croak out.

"Because you killed one of their own. That's a death sentence." Gavner looked grave, and sorrowful.

"But, they were going to kill him!" I protested. I looked at Evra, who was standing stoned faced next to me. I could tell that he didn't really understand what was going on, but then again, neither did I.

"No." Gavner said. "They were only going to kill him if he continued to be reckless. You killed him before they had the chance to judge, therefore you're guilty."

Well, that explanation sucked. "So, why are you here? Mr. Crepsley said that if they found out we killed him, the generals wouldn't help us."

"_They _won't_. _Larten is an old friend, my best friend. I'm not supposed to, but I couldn't just let them kill him. Or you, for that matter." Gavner explained, turning his eyes back to the injured Mr. Crepsley. I followed his gaze, and had a terrible realization. Mr. Crepsley couldn't flee from the vampaneze like that. He couldn't even stay awake for more than two minutes without blacking out, he was still bleeding, and his ribcage had just turned a revolting shade of black.

"How long till they come after us?" I asked, scared of his answer. If they already knew that we killed him, we had until probably tonight before they came for us. We had to leave now.

"Tonight." He confirmed what I already knew.

"Then we have to leave right now, why there sleeping." I said urgently. Gavner looked at me thoughtfully.

"It's daylight Darren, me and Larten will burn up in a few hours. We can't run from here." I realized he was right, and then I got an idea.

"I got it. Pack up any weapons from here you can find, me and Evra will be right back. Okay?" He gave me and weird look but listened to my instructions and strapped the knives Debbie had left to his belt. I pulled Evra out of the door, shutting it quietly behind me, making sure I didn't make any noise.

"We have to get into one of these rooms." I whispered. Then started down the hall, pressing my ears to each of the doors, listening for deep breathing. Finally, at the end of the hallway, I heard a man snoring loudly. Using my fingernails, I quickly picked the lock, and we stepped into the dark room.

"Make sure he doesn't wake up." I told Evra, and then stepped deeper into the room. I looked around for his stuff and found his suitcase on the far wall. Walking over to it, I unzipped the front pocket. Feeling around my hand landed on his car keys. I pulled them out, success!

I walked back over to Evra. I felt bad about taking the guys car, but hopefully he had insurance and could get a new one. If we died, we couldn't get a new us, so the guilt disappeared. Walking back out of the room, leaving the man snoring, we headed down towards the room.

Before we got there, I pulled Evra's arm towards the elevators at the end of the hall. "Were going to the gift shop." I explained. He looked confused, but got in the elevator with me.

We passed the desk clerk, it was five in the morning, and he had his head laid down on the desk. We walked passed him quietly anyway and moved around the desk towards the small gift shop at the end of the lobby. It was dark and didn't open till nine O'clock. I breathed out a sigh of relief, before flicking the lock open with my long fingernails. It sprang open and me and Evra stepped inside.

It took my eyes a minute to get adjusted to the dim light, but they got used to it in a matter of seconds. Looking around I saw everything from decorative postcards to shot glasses. I went straight to the rack of embroidered backpacks, and pulled off four. One for each of us. Then I went to the T-Shirts, they were bright orange with the city name and the hotel on the front.

I got three of the biggest ones they had. They would give me, Gavner and Mr. Crepsley some protection form the sun. Then I grabbed an extra for each of us and put one of each in the backpacks that Evra was holding open. As an afterthought, I grabbed some oversized orange foodies. These things were expensive, but I really didn't care. They could replace them, and sell those.

"Evra, what kind of food do they have in here?" I didn't figure we were going to be able to order take out while running from vampaneze, it was a good idea to prepare for the worst.

"They have a lot of snack food." He pointed to a large counter by the checkout counter. Walking over to it, I smiled. It was full of junk food like chocolate and chips. I filled an entire suitcase with at least twelve different kinds of chocolate bars. We had chips, mints, Nerds, and even a couple of small bottles of soda Evra grabbed out of the fridge in the corner.

I thought we had everything we needed until I looked up and saw the first aid kit hanging off the wall. It had band-aids, gauze, and other medicine like aspirin and ibuprofen. Nodding at Evra and shrugging on one of the backpacks, we stepped back out into the lobby. Passing the manager, and thanking the gods that the man who had been drinking coffee was gone, we got into the elevator and started our ride up that would be the beginning of our live as fugitives.

(A/N) This chapter is really a filler, but important later on. Grand Theft Auto! Hope you liked, I'll update soon. Please R&R


	11. Chapter 11

We rode up to our floor in silence, the only sound the shifting of the back packs as we moved them from one shoulder to the next, transferring the weight. The light dinged, and we stepped off. I felt frenzied walking down the hallway to our room, I was extremely nervous. Nervous that the man whose car keys we had taken would wake up and find that his keys were missing, nervous that the desk manager might actually notice all the stuff we had taken form the gift shop and would come after, but, most importantly, I was nervous that the vampaneze would find us. With Mr. Crepsley injured like he was he would be an easy target, I wasn't sure of Gavner's fighting skills, or Evra's, but I doubt the three of us could kill a battalion of vampaneze.

The new vampire blood in my veins was hyping up my nerves. It was making me overly anxious and my blood pump faster, making me a little ADHD. That was not exactly the best thing for my nerves at the moment. Stooping by our door, I slid the card through the slot, and pushed the door open.

I let out a sigh of relief as I stepped into the room. Gavner had gathered everything of ours that was of any value and had it lying on the bed in an open suitcase. Better yet, he was supporting Mr. Crepsley and helping him into his blood stained shirt.

"Here, try this." I tossed him the orange T-shirt, and with some help from Gavner, he slipped it over his head. It was way too big, and hung off his body like drapes. In this case, the overly large size was to his advantage, the less it touched his wounded skin, the less it would irritate his skin. "Put this on too, were leaving soon."

I tossed both him and Gavner the matching orange hoodies, before grabbing my own and slipping it over my head. "M and Evra, erm, got a ride." I explained, pulling the hoodie down and pushing the hood behind my head. I looked back at them, and despite the tense situation, almost started laughing. Mr. Crepsley hair was sticking out of the front of his hoodie; he looked like a red-haired thug; while Gavner had his head stuck in the hole.

I went to help them, and managed to get Gavner into his with no more resistance, and then I turned back to Evra. "Do you need yours?" He shook his head, pulling on his jacket and fake beard.

We were ready to go, so with little more discussion, we zipped the suitcases and headed into the lobby, with me and Gavner supporting Mr. Crepsley between us. We came out of the elevator looking like a walking billboard. We were a walking advertisement for this hotel, with our hoodies, backpacks and T-Shirts. It would have been funny, under any other circumstances.

I wheeled the suitcase out of the elevator and turned to the vampires in our party. "Put your hoods on." I said, and they did. I did the same, pulling the orange material to where it almost completely shielded my face. "Does either of you know how tot drive a car?"

They both looked at me like I had bugs crawling out of my ears, and I realized that that probably hadn't been very intelligent. I was talking about two hundred year old vampires; I doubt they could work modern machinery. I couldn't drive, if anyone saw me they would pull me over, I didn't look anywhere close to legal.

"Darren," Evra spoke up, "I can drive. I have my learner's permit." I was confused, when did that happen.

"How?" I asked him. He looked away sheepishly.

"At the Cirque, I helped Mr. Tall drive the vans when it was time to move. That's how I learned." He explained, I looked at him for one more minute, before reaching into my pocket, and handing him the keys.

"You're driving then." I told him and once again we headed for the door. As we neared the door, both Gavner and Mr. Crepsley looked nervous at willingly walking into sunlight, I realized that I should be worried too. I was a full vampire now, but with all that had happened in the last twenty four hours, it couldn't just stick in my mind like it should.

Evra stepped through the door first, when he opened it this huge blast of icy wind flew right into the building and I shivered despite my three layers and my vampire blood. Evidently it had been snowing while we were inside the hotel; about an inch had fallen and was sticking to everything. The grass was already a brilliant white in the weak morning sun and the road had a layer of slush on the top.

I wasn't really paying attention and Gavner almost ran over me.  
I turned around to yell at him when I saw why. In the shadow of a nearby van was a pair of vicious red eyes, and a purple body looking straight at us. Vampaneze! But it was during the day, they shouldn't be out here! Neither should we, so I guess I shouldn't be judgmental.

"Help Larten," Gavner whispered to me, "We're going to run for it." I nodded nervously and grabbed Mr. Crepsley's arm, getting ready to drag him with us.

"NOW!" Gavner yelled, and he took off running for the car. Evra went on front, setting of the alarm so we could find the vehicle. Me and Mr. Crepsley ran after them, my new vampire blood letting me run extremely fast and drag my half-dead mentor with us.

Snarling in the background, the vampaneze ran after us. As soon as he touched the light, he flinched away back into the shadows, and debated whether or not we were worth it. In the end he decided we were, and came after us. Evra was at the car with the suitcase and Gavner loaded. He ran to the other side and got in the driver's side, starting up the engine.

With one last burst of energy, I pulled us the last few feet into the car. "GO!" I yelled at Evra, and he did. He jerked us put backwards, and spun the car, heading straight for the vampaneze.

With a sickening crunch he ran over the purple skinned demon, and we pulled out of the parking lot. Breathing a sigh of relief, I laid back on the back seat of the car. We were safe, for now.


	12. Chapter 12

**(A/N) Hey peoples, I know the last two chapters have been kind of dullish, so I hope this one was worth the wait for you all! Please R&R, reviews keep me writing!**

The roads were abandoned, it was Christmas, no one was out. Add the icy roads and still falling snow and we ended up with no traffic, the only thing slowing us down was the assortment of traffic lights. I let out a long breath and looked around the car, or, van, as I should have said. It had the front seat, the seats me, Gavner, and Mr. Crepsley were sitting in, and a large open space for a trunk. Looking at Mr. Crepsley exhausted face, his injuries were starting to bother him again, I had an idea.

"Gavner, stand up for a minute." He did, pressing his back against the seat. I helped Mr. Crepsley off the seat, and then crawled back to look at the back of the seat. Success! I found the lever, and with a dull thud the seat fell forward.

"Go back there Larten." Gavner said picking up on my idea. I handed my mentor the backpack full of clothing while he pulled himself into the trunk. Within minutes he was stretched out in the back of the van. He closed his eyes, and his breathing evened out almost instantly. As soon as he was out, I slammed the seat back up to its position and me and Gavner flopped down onto it.

A wave of fatigue came over me, and I realized I hadn't slept in almost two days. Laying my head back on the headrest, my world faded to black.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that it was pitch balck outside, and I could still see everything. The second thing I noticed was that we were not moving. "Evra?" I called, confused and still a bit groggy. No answer.

"Gavner?" I jerked my head sideways; there was no vampire general in the seat next to me.

"Mr. Crepsley?" I turned around, my body going into full panic mode; he was gone, with only the backpack pillow left in the trunk. I was wide awake now, and extremely worried. What was going on?

Without really thinking anything through, I jerked open my car door. It was a blizzard outside, with snow pouring from and in every direction. Even in the blackness of the still night the snow gleamed white, and I scoured my newly sensitive eyes through it, looking for my friends; it was possible that we had only stopped for gas. But that wasn't the case; we were parked in the middle on nowhere. Well, we were wrecked in the middle of nowhere.

Looking back at the car, I saw huge dents in the side. One of them was shaped like a body, and several were shaped like huge fists. They crunched up the metal, and made the passenger door look like a stepped-on aluminum can. I walked around to the front of the car. It looked like two huge hands had gripped the front fender and lifted the car completely off the ground.

I went to turn around and accidentally glanced at the front of my shirt. The entire fornt was covered in blood, in all the places it would have been if someone had stabbed me. I felt my torso, but I wasn't injured, the blood wasn't mine.

What had happened? I couldn't have even begun to guess. The only thing I knew for certain was that I was completely alone in a place that only god knows where. The odds were not in my favor.

I started to lose my head, a million thoughts flew through my brain, each one worst than the last. I couldn't think straight, so I decided to get backing the car, where at least it was warmer that it was out here. I jerked back open my door, and sat back down in my seat.

It was then that I made one more executive decision. One that would have really been considered stupid by anyone with a brain. I grabbed the backpack with all the food and the first-aid kit in it, then leapt out of the car.

I stood around, debating on just what way to go, when I noticed it. It was partially hidden by the new fallen snow, but it still paved a clear path through theslush. The sight of it made my heart jump in my chest, and my blood rush twice as fast.

There, laying in the snow, was a trail of blood. Dark, crimson Vampire Blood.


	13. Chapter 13

With my heart jumping in my chest, I decided to follow the blood to wherever it took me. Whether that be to my friends, or my death, I had no idea. And shouldering my backpack, I trudged onward.

The snow was flying in every direction, sticking everywhere and to everything. If the blood was not so clearly defined and warm, I would have been lost within minutes of walking through the intense conditions. But, it paved the way for me, so I followed it. I thought of all the things that could have happened. Judging by the state the car was in, I would seriously be an idiot if I thought that there wasn't a fight.

I was betting on vampaneze. I mean, who else would wan to kill us so badly that they would trek after us in the middle of a raging blizzard? I can't think of else but the man at the Chinese restaurant whose food Evra had criticized almost a week ago. So yeah, my money's on the vampaneze.

I felt the snow hit my face, a thousand tiny hammers biting at my flesh, but I didn't feel cold. It was more like this creeping numbness was working its way through my blood. I knew it was the fact that I was a full vampire now; it was a survival adaptation, as Mr. Crepsley had said. Thinking of my mentor stopped me in my tracks.

I looked back, as far as I could see, which wasn't that far, was the thick trail of blood. I realized that it was more than likely his. He had already been severely injured, if the vampaneze had gotten a hold of him, I could only imagine what he looked like now, if he was even still alive. I forced that thought out of my head, and kept trudging.

What happened to Gavner and Evra? I couldn't answer that. I didn't want to answer that. Up ahead, through the wall of white flakes, I saw a flickering light, orange and inviting. I almost ran towards it, but then realized that was not only idiotic, but suicidal. So I tread lightly and stepped closer.

"I don't see why we can't just kill 'em?" I t was gruff voice, with a hard edge and a hint of a sneer woven in.

"Because, you idiot, if we kill all of them, we runt he chance of getting slaughtered by the damn vampire clan." A second voice, that sounded like an Elvis impersonator, said. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"What about the green guy? He ain't a vampire." The first one said. At thump followed that question. "OW! What'd ya' hit me for?"

"Because you're stupid!" The Elvis guy answered. Their voices faded away into low grumbles, as I drew closer to them.

"Liam! Andros! Get over here!" I was so close that I could see the orange thing; it was a fire, in a large campsite, of sorts. The two vampaneze who had been talking to the point here I could hear them got up without question and walked over to whoever had called them. I followed them with my eyes, watching there every move.

They walked over to a large circle of vampaneze at the far side of the camp, which was really several tents, a van, and a couple of caravans spread in a circle around the bon fire. They were talking, but I had to get a little closer to here them.

I stepped in the shadow of two caravans, and crouched down, my ears pricked as I tried to pick up there conversation. "We should just kill them, they're nothing but problems." One hissed, spit spraying form his mouth as he spoke.

"We can't kill them! The boy might have killed Murlough, if we kill them they'll come after us." Another argued.

"SHUT UP!" The one who was obvious in charge yelled. Everyone stopped talking. "Why don't we "ASK" our friends if that's true?" He emphasized the word ask, and all the vampaneze smirked.

Then they parted, leaving an opening in the middle of them where I could see just beyond them. Tied by their hands to what looked similar to a flag pole. Gavner and Mr. Crepsley's hoodies were gone, leaving Gavner in his torn orange T-shirt and Mr. Crepsley in his bloody and ragged one. Evra still had all of his clothes on, and he looked like he did when I had last seen them.

If Mr. Crepsley had looked bad earlier, he looked god awful now. Almost none of his shirt was left, and almost his entire upper body was drenched in blood, and his ribcage, previously a deep violet, was now solid black. I don't think he had any whole ribs left, if he did I would be surprised. He had a small cut above his eyebrow, but it no blood was coming from it. My guess was that he had been injured in fighting at the car; at least, that's what I hoped.

The head vampaneze walked over in front of Gavner, and the general looked up at him with flaring brown eyes. "Did you kill Murlough, or was it your friend, or maybe the boy? Tell us and we'll leave you alone." He looked at Gavner.

The general remained defiant. "Like hell I'm going to volunteer that information." He said through gritted teeth. The vampaneze smiled at him, an odd triumphant grin. He raised his foot and kicked Gavner square in the chest, causing him to smash back against the pole. He looked winded, but continued to stare up at the vampaneze.

The vampaneze moved to stand in front of Mr. Crepsley and repeated his question. Instead of answering, Mr. Crepsley just stared up at him with his green eyes. Hatred blazing in there emerald depths. "You all are awfully quiet today." The vampaneze commented.

With a swift motion, he kicked Mr. Crepsley once in the side, right in the ribcage, and then again on his chest, causing him to cough violently. It was all I could do to stay here, my senses were running haywire and I wanted nothing else but to rip that guy's head right of his stupid smiling face. And I wasn't the only one. Gavner was struggling against his restraints, fighting to get to Mr. Crepsley and protect him.

The vampaneze turned back to his group, and I realized this was the first time I had seen his face. It had a weird birthmark spread across it, like a paint splatter. "Let's eat, we'll check on them tomorrow, and maybe they'll see the sense in talking." He laughed, and a dozen vampaneze followed suit.

They stepped away, going to their bon fire to eat "breakfast". "Larten?" Gavner whispered, trying his best to turn his head. "Larten are you all right?"

"I---I will be fine." Mr. Crepsley answered, his voice stuttering the slightest amount. He turned his head toward Gavner, and I could see new blood forming at the corners of his mouth.

I watched the scene as Gavner leaned his head back against the pole and Mr. Crepsley did the same thing, an occasional cough spurting form his chest. I watched as they fell asleep to the sickening laughter of the dark-hearted vampaneze.

(A/N) I know this was a little dark, but this is not exactly a cheery story, in case you hadn't noticed. Please R&R, I have 47, that's awesome!


	14. Chapter 14

**(A/N) This chapter is a little short, sorry!**

**Review answers: (This is the first time I've done this, so bear with me)**

_**AngelKitten23:**_** I agree, poor Mr. Crepsley, fell sorry for the guy! As for Darren, you'll see what he does.**

_**MadHatter:**_** I am being mean to Mr. Crepsley, but it's important! I still love Mr. C, he's the best.**

_**Rowan Rawr.:**_** Glad you know who it is, that's important later!**

**Disclaimer: I really am Darren Shan. I also own IHOP, Google, and the Pacific Ocean. Let's be honest people, I ain't Darren Shan.  
**

* * *

I stayed in the shadow of the caravan and watched the vampaneze move over to there fire. Pure rage, hot as the orange flames, flickered through my veins. I hated them so much, and I had never even met them. I especially hated the big one with the birthmark. I wanted to kill him, but I was smart enough to realize that that plan would not only be suicidal but it would more than likely get my friends killed in the process. So I decided to wait.

I watched as they ate to the point that my stomach was flipping itself over and over, so I looked back to where Gavner, Evra, and Mr. Crepsley were tied up. Gavner had woken up, and was staring at the large campfire, I couldn't see Evra's face, but Mr. Crepsley had his eyes closed and he was either unconscious or asleep.

"Dawn's comin'," One of the vampaneze said. The one with the birthmark answered him.

"Go put this over them. It should keep the sun off of them." The one who had spoken grumbled, but went to put it up. "It" was a tarp that hooked onto the pole and hung over my friends. Making a quick decision I decided to watch the vampaneze go off to bed.

The one with a birthmark was sharing a large caravan on the far side with "Elvis". The rest were by themselves, spread out in tents, and one in the caravan I was hiding beside. No one slept in there van, I found it odd, but decided to be happy about it. Finally the guy stringing the tarp sauntered off to go to bed.

I watched him disappear into an empty tent on the far side of camp before I stood up. Gavner was still awake, but he had his head leaned back against the pole, and he couldn't see me form where I was standing. So, I decided to walk out to him.

Always looking around, I got over to the pole before Gavner even noticed. I was pretty proud of myself. "Gavner!" I hissed through my teeth.

"Dar-"He started to say, but I clamped my hand over his mouth.

"Hey." I reached into my backpack. "I'll be right back, but while I'm gone, give these to Mr. Crepsley." I gave him the pain pills. Hopefully, they would help my mentor, who looked anything but comfortable. I realized that Gavner couldn't hold the pills, his hands were tied up, so I set them next to the pole, promising I'd be back in a minute.

"Where are you going?" I didn't answer, the plan already forming in my head, I stepped out in to the pale clearing. I didn't have that much time, a couple of hours at the most. It was getting lighter every minute, and I had to finish before the sun came up or I was toasted, literally. But to me, that was more than enough time. I would have liked to go straight to Birthmark boy's tent, but I decided against it. There was two people in their, I couldn't risk it.

Instead I went to the far end of the clearing, fighting my way through the deep snow and stepped into the tent that had the guy who had strung the tent. Seeing him sleeping almost made me re-think what I was about to do, but I thought of Mr. Crepsley, and Gavner, who were tied up and bloody to a flag pole in the middle of a blizzard.

Hate surged through me and I grabbed the handle of my knife. I walked over to him, and avoided looking at his face. I raised it up, the blade catching the pale light from the tent flap, and stabbed it downward.

It never reached him. A huge, scarred hand wrapped itself around both of mine, and stopped it clean in its tracks. I looked up slowly.

"So, he lives." It was the birth-marked vampaneze.


	15. Chapter 15

I made the mistake of looking at his face before reacting. I should have just kicked him in the shin. But I didn't. He threw me to the far side of the tent, and I slammed onto the ground. Fortunately, I held on to my knife, and I pulled it close to my chest.

The vampaneze I had come to kill sat bolt upright, as the birth marked vampaneze let out a growl at me. I shrank back form the pair of them, terrified. The one in the open coffin stared at the vampaneze, he still hadn't noticed me.

"Glalda? What's going on?" He followed his companion's eyes to me, still on the ground. "The kid?"

Glalda nodded. "They lied." And then they started coming for me, a murderous gleam in their red eyes.

I jumped up, ready to fight to the death, because I knew that if it came to fighting I didn't stand a chance against two trained vampaneze. I would give it my best shot. Brandishing my knife in front of me, I tried to glare intimidatingly at the approaching vampaneze. They didn't buy it.

Suddenly, like he had just had the best idea in the world Glalda's smile changed. It faded from murderous to a triumphant grin. "Get the boy." He told the other one. I raised my knife ready to stab him as he came close, but I never got the chance. Before I could blink, a hand clamped roughly over my mouth, and a second stretched across my front, and pinned my arms to my sides. My knife clattered to the floor, as the vampaneze pushed me roughly forward.

Glalda stepped out of the tent in front of us into the dim morning light. The vampaneze led me forward, guiding me after his leader. I stepped out, and to my horror the clearing was full of vampaneze. They had all risen from their sleep, either from the ruckus we had created, or maybe Glalda had told them to when I wasn't looking. Either way, they were here.

But worst of all, up front three vampaneze had my friends. They were holding Gavner exactly the same way they were holding me, making sure to pin his arms to his sides, and put a hand over his mouth. One had Evra by the back of the neck, holding him off the ground, as they gathered in a circle. Lastly, one had Mr. Crepsley, holding a knife to his throat with one arm holding him back by his chest.

"Looks like your little friend is alive." Glalda looked distastefully at me. "Are you going to tell me who killed Murlough, now? So the rest of you can leave." He looked first at Mr. Crepsley, then at Gavner, then at Evra, and finally trained his eyes on me.

We said nothing, not that I could. "I killed him." Every head turned around, wanting to know who had spoken. It was Evra.

"You? You're not even a vampire!" Glalda looked just as shocked as everyone else in the room.

"So? You don't have to be a vampire to kill someone." He looked at Glalda defiantly. Shaking his head, the vampaneze shrugged his shoulders.

"Kill the snake boy then." Several moved to attack Evra, all holding knives, and there was nothing he could do.

As a last ditch effort, I forced my mouth open and bit as hard as I could on my captive's hand. With a loud screech he jerked his hand back. I kicked my foot backwards, and it lodged in his shin, causing him to let me go and slump to the ground. Trying to save my friend, I leapt on to the back of the nearest vampaneze.

Gavner took my cue, swinging his feet backwards into the shins' of his captor. He dropped him and Gavner ran over to Evra, tussling with the vampire who still had a hold of the snake-boy.

I gripped the ears of the person I was holding onto. Then I raised my fist and slammed in backwards into his nose. He screamed, but I didn't let go. Taking my claw-like fingernails, I raked them across his forehead, not cutting deeply, but enough for the blood to drip down and ruin his vision. Grabbing the knife from his belt, I jumped off of him.

As he ran off I moved to the next one. He was trying to get to Gavner, so taking him down wasn't hard. A stab in the middle of his back and he was down. I didn't have time to celebrate though, a vampaneze slammed into me, making the breath soar out of my body. He dug his fingernails into my shoulders, and pinned me to the ground.

Wiggling away form him, I squirmed enough to be able to pull me legs up. I kicked them hard into his stomach, sending him flying through the air. Jumping to my feet, I didn't even pause to catch my breath; I leapt for the nearest vampaneze.

I took in that Gavner had gotten Evra free and had killed the vampaneze that had had a hold of him, along with two more. They were fighting back to back, swinging and guarding each other's flanks, like an odd dance. With a jab in the shoulder, a punch in the stomach, and a stab in the heart the one I was fighting went down hard. Only six left.

I was getting ready to leap for the next one when a chilling voice stopped me.

I turned; Glalda had Mr. Crepsley holding him tight with the blade of knife positioned above his heart. "One more move and he dies."


	16. Chapter 16

(A/N) I am being to mean to Mr. C, sorry about that, he is my favorite character but it's essential in the story. Poor guy :)

My breath stopped, and my heart sped up. I wasn't the only one, Evra, Gavner and all he vampaneze froze at Glalda's words, all watching him.

"He didn't kill Murlough." I said, catching Glalda's eyes with my own stare.

"Neither did the snake boy." Glalda said, gesturing at Evra. "I'm not an idiot." I turned around and met my friend's eyes, Evra looked sad, and guilty at the same time. He was innocent, brought into this because I had insisted hat he come with us to the city. I couldn't stand to look at him anymore, so instead I turned my gaze to the frozen ground.

Vaguely, in the corner of my mind that wasn't in panic mode, I noticed that it had stopped snowing. It was no longer raining white, thinking that, I turned around to face Glalda once again. "No. Evra didn't kill Murlough." I paused for a moment. "I did."

All the vampaneze spun around to face me at the same time. All six of them switched from "kill Evra" mode, to "kill Darren" mode remarkably fast. I tensed ready to fight to the death.

Before they came for me, the last thing I saw was Glalda drop Mr. Crepsley to the ground and leap after me. The first vampaneze hit with the impact of a freight train. He slammed into my body, knocking me to the ground and the breath out of my body.

Feebly, I raised my knife and stabbed in the arm that was extended. I pulled it back, completely stained with his blood, and took in a gasping breath. With all my strength I pushed him up. He came off me a half inch, and I stuck the bloody blade deep in between us. He couldn't stop himself, and he dropped heavily onto the blade, effectively impaling himself with the sharp blade.

I pushed him off and leapt up, just to be buffeted by a horde of vampaneze. I noticed Gavner and Evra rush in to help me, taking on two vampaneze buy themselves. A pair of them came for me, and I swung wildly, if he hadn't been so clumsy that probably would've gotten me killed. But as it turned out, my wild swing hit him in the shoulder, and with a wounded cry he stopped advancing while I moved to his friend.

This guy was huge, like a tree. He was muscular and with some serious beef on those bones. Despite all that, I went for him. He swung his fist at my head, and I swerved to avoid it, embedding my left hand in his stomach. He grabbed my neck with a howl of pain and threw me to the ground. He came to land on me, which would have squished me flatter than a pancake, so I rolled sideways to avoid his blow. On my roll, I used my momentum to spring my self off the ground, and I stabbed my knife deep into his side.

He lay; gasping for breath, till his eyes glazed over and the blood stopped flowing from the wound. I got back on my feet as a heavy weight crashed into my front side. My knife fell away from me on impact, and two sweaty hands wrapped around my throat. I just stared blankly up at them, and noticed the blood on his shoulder. It was the vampaneze I had stabbed!

Spots swan in my vision as I struggled to get him off of me. My oxygen was leaving. This was it, what a pathetic way to die. I knew the last thing I would ever see was this guy's ugly face looking at me full of hate.

Suddenly, the weight was gone. The vampaneze was off of me! Something pulled him up on his feet and a knife came through his chest, killing him instantly. He slumped to the ground and his killer stood unmoving, breathing heavily. It was Mr. Crepsley!

I started to say something to him, to thank him for saving me, when a knife flew through the air, whizzing past my head and lodged itself deep in his gut. "NOOOOO!" I heard my self scream, as he fell backwards onto the ground.

I whipped around to see a smirking Glalda with his hand outstretched, looking right at me. Two can play at that game. I got my knife and launched it. His smile faded to a look of confusion, and then of pain, as it sunk into his purple flesh, right in the heart.

I saw red, hate flaring up, even as I watched him die right in front of me. I subconsciously glanced around the rest of the clearing, my killing instinct kicked into high gear to see that all the vampaneze were dead. Glalda had seconds left on his clock.

Scrambling to my feet I whipped around. Gavner and Evra were standing over Mr. Crepsley, with Gavner holding the knife in his hand. Instantly my hate turned to grief, was he dead? I watched him checking for signs of life, and finding none. I felt tears press at my cheeks, burning paths down my face, when he twitched. And then let out a weak groan.

He was still alive. Thank the vampire gods.


	17. Chapter 17

(A/N) I am so sorry about the long wait! I have been very busy lately, plus with the contest I haven't had time to update on this story! Hope this chapter was worth it, Please R&R!

I stood up and walked over to where Gavner and Evra were crouched over Mr. Crepsley. His face was white as a sheet, even his scar was two shades paler, and blood was spreading over his shirt like a giant blossoming flower. I sank to my knees on the ground, nausea and hopelessness flooding me. Then I remembered that we still had hope.

"Evra." He looked at me, "Go into that tent and get my backpack out of it." I pointed out the tent and he stood up to go and gather the backpack.

Not very much of Mr. Crepsley's orange shirt was left, but there was still enough covering the injury that I had to pull it off. Using my knife I cut it away and threw it one the ground. The wound looked awful, with red blood bubbling up and spilling over the edges. My stomach flipped itself over, and a wave of nausea came over me. But I shook it off, and made myself focus.

"Put pressure on that." I told Gavner, and then stood up and grabbed the bag from Evra. Pulling out all the chocolate and the bottle of soda, I dug my way down to the first aid kit. I crouched back down on the ground, and threw open the plastic container.

Aspirin, band-aids, and Epi-pen, AHA! Gauze! A whole roll of gauze. I pulled them out and gave one end to Evra before standing up. Grabbing the ends of the roll, I stepped back wards about two feet. Using my sharpened nails, I sliced through the end of the gauze and grabbed the piece before it could hit the ground.

I debated on how I should do this. Putting dry gauze on it would be useless and messy, so it had to be wet. Realizing another important thing about being a vampire, I gathered up a huge mouthful of spit. I completely dried out my mouth but the cloth was drenched in healing spit. Gavner just shrugged, while Evra looked a little green, literally.

I leaned back down on the ground, and pressed the gauze to Mr. Crepsley stomach. The cut wasn't long, but it was deep. I glanced over at the knife that Gavner had pulled out of his stomach, it had a thick blade and a sharp point, about ¾ of it was covered in blood. A couple inches, at least the blade hadn't gone all the way through. Somehow, that thought didn't make it much better.

My mentor flipped his head over and let out a small, pain-filled, groan. "Evra, hand me the tape." I pointed at the box, and Evra grabbed the roll of medical tape from inside. Taping it tight over Mr. Crepsley's wound; I sat down with a thud. I watched the white bandage become freckled with little red dots. Then it grew to cover the whole thing, but he tape held steady.

Breathing a sigh of relief I relaxed. That was pretty good for a fifth grade health class. Nothing to do know but wait. I couldn't look at Mr. Crepsley the whole time, the dark color of his still broken ribcage was making me sick, so I looked around the clearing.

All around dead vampaneze lay in grotesque positions, some covered in blood, with others' faces' frozen in shock and pain. I realized that I had killed some of them, I had killed people. I was a monster!

I started hyperventilating, and I began to feel light headed, when I glanced back at Mr. Crepsley. I remembered what they had done to him, and I got mad. They deserved to die. They were horrible, disgusting creatures, murderers.

But I still felt guilty, and I knew I always would. So, I decided that the least I could do was to give them a burial. Maybe it would keep me from feeling so damn bad.

"I'll be back later guys." I told Gavner and Evra, rising off the ground, and making my way to one of the caravans. I knew they were looking at me, but they didn't ask any questions, so I just wondered around until I found a shovel. Stepping outside the camp, I leaned on it, watching the pale morning light blink over the horizon.

Sighing to myself, hating everything that was going on, I stuck my shovel in the dirt and began to dig.

(A/N) I know the ending was a little weird, but It IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, which I will post shortly! Please R&R!


	18. Chapter 18

(A/N) Sorry for the incredibly long wait. Hope this is worth it. Please R&R! I left of the ending to this chapter, I am so sorry!

I decided to dig a trench grave, instead of digging thirty individual graves for all the vampaneze. I flung the first shovelful about ten feet in front of me, one down ten thousand to go. I had dug up a grand total of ten shovelfuls; the glaring light of the sun obscured my vision. A light tingling came over my face where the sunshine hit it, and I shut my eyes. Covering my hand with my face, I turned my back on it, and started to walk back to camp.

I opened my eyes, but almost had to close them again because of the glare on the sun that shone back into my face, it was reflecting off the snow in a bright haze. Looking away from it, I could make out Gavner, Evra, and Mr. Crepsley where they still hadn't moved form the clearing.

"Gavner," I called, and he looked up at me, dark rings around his eyes. "We need to get Mr. Crepsley inside, the sun's coming up." He nodded his head.

"You're right." He said, rising to his feet and grabbing my mentor under his arms, stepping forward I grabbed his feet up and together we hoisted him into the air. He groaned lightly, but didn't come to.

"Where do you think we should put him?" I asked, looking around at the mismatched tents and caravans.

"How about that van over there?" Gavner nodded his head in the direction of the SUV at the edge of camp, I nodded and we headed in that direction. "Evra, how about you go open up the trunk." Gavner told him, and he ran ahead.

The longer we stayed in the sun the more my skin tingled and the backs of my hands were starting to have a pinkish hue on them. As soon as we put Mr. Crepsley down, I was going to have to readjust my hoodie to keep that off my skin or I start to look like charcoal.

Eventually, after a couple of trips, one almost fall, and a missing shoe, we arrived at the van with Mr. Crepsley. Evra had lifted the lid and was clearing out the trunk of the crammed vehicle. There were cans of food, bottles of water, blankets, a case of weapons, and several sets of clothing, complete with shoes. Pushing all the stuff out of the trunk, Evra cleaned out enough space for us to lay Mr. Crepsley in.

We set him down softly, he barely fit stretched across the van, but a fit is a fit anyway you slice it, so we moved on. I opened one of the back doors and shut the trunk lid before covering it with a sheet to keep him out of the sun, while he could still get some fresh air.

I looked over at Gavner while fixing my hoodie to cover my skin. "You and Evra should get inside to, you need sleep."

He looked at me for minute, and even then I could see that he was fighting staying awake. He nodded, clapped me on the shoulder and climbed into the back seat of the car. Evra, smiled briefly at me before getting into the front seat of the car. Despite all that had happened, I wasn't really tired, I guess I was just too worked up and I had slept a while. I might as well get back to digging, at least that would be productive.

Leaving my friends to sleep, I walked back into the main part of the clearing, I had to hand it to the vampaneze, this was a pretty good campsite. The clearing, albeit the bodies, was clear with plenty of space and enough room for everyone to be spread out. It was nice, but the blood and bodies were making me nauseous, so I averted my eyes.

I had walked almost all the way across the space when I figured that it would be smart to take at least one vampaneze with me, to avoid having to come back later. I was standing where Mr. Crepsley had been injured, so the logical choice was Glalda. I whipped around, ready to cart him off with me.

Glalda's body was gone. At first I had thought I had overlooked it, but I could see the blood in the snow, but no body was there.

Panic swelling in my chest I sprinted back to the van, betting on the off chance that Gavner or Evra had moved the body. I ran by the post that they had been tied to all the way to where the van was. Or where it should be.

Mr. Crepsley, Gavner, Evra, and the van were gone.


	19. Chapter 19

** (A/N) Woo-Hoo My first update on this thing since March 1****st****! Wow that's a long time! Sorry to all my readers, I understand if you hate me, but life has taken a couple of spins since March 1****st****! Please R&R, it's not the best chapter ever, but I hope it's worth the wait!**

Staring stupidly at the muddy tire tracks stretching put in front of me, I knew what had happened, but my brain wouldn't wrap around it. Glalda wasn't dead; I hadn't killed him, and know he had my friends. It was my fault. If I had made sure the bastard was dead, this wouldn't be happening. But I couldn't focus on that now; I had to find something that would let me catch them.

A car. Or even a van. It didn't matter, I just needed one. I ran around camp, pulling my orange hood up to cover as much skin as possible so it wouldn't get scorched by the watery (but effective) sunlight. I knew that that SUV hadn't been the only vehicle they had used to bring these here, but I wasn't have any luck finding another one. I looked behind the caravans, through the tents; I even looked out in the woods behind where they had chained up Mr. Crepsley, Gavner, and Evra. No luck.

I was running out of time. Depending on how fast he was driving, Glalda could be out of the state by now! I had to get moving. I walked back over to the tire tracks, desperately trying to think of a plan. The bloody footprints through the light snow gave me an idea. So crazy it just might work.

What had Mr. Crepsley said, "Hold your breath"? So, holding my breath, and marking the nearest tree as my goal, I tried to flit for the first time. BAM! That tree has an almost perfect imprint of my face, but it worked! Excitedly, I tried to do it again, picking the pole as my target this time! Except for the bad stop that sent me tumbling into the snow, I was completely successful.

But I didn't have any more time to practice; I had to get moving, the longer I waited the more distance Glalda was putting between us. Grabbing the surviving backpack, and the dagger from the vampaneze I had first killed, I turned back to the tracks. Gathering a huge breath, I pushed every ounce of speed I had in my body forward and ran after my friends.

It was exhilarating. I could feel my hair blow up behind me, and the wind rush over my skin through my hoodie. I was moving four times as fast as a car, the speed was thrilling. I watched the tracks under me, making sure I was keeping up with them as I watched my feet move so fast that they were blurs under my eyes.

The harder I ran, the fresher the tracks looked. I knew I was close, and it's a good thing, I was running out of air. Smack! With a loud thud, first my knees and then my upper body hit the trunk of the van with a crunch of metal. I looked up. Dazed and almost drunken-like I pulled my head up and looked around. I was defiantly attached to the back of our van; I could see Mr. Crepsley's bloodstains on the fabric of the trunk. But they were defiantly not in there.

Pulling my knees out of the scrunched up metal of the ruined rear fender, I hopped down onto the ground, still pumped full of adrenaline from flitting. As soon as my hand pulled even a little down from the sleeve, the oddest tingling sensation took up in my hand, like someone was scarping it with a piece of steel wool. Quickly pulling it back into the orange clothes, I realized I would have to be careful out here in the open, where the sun could burn me to a crisp in a matter of hours.

Shuddering at the thought, I looked around for my friends and their kidnapper. Well, vampire-snakeboy-napper. I didn't see them, but I was standing at the foot of a mountain. It was rugged, with a roughly carved peak and what looked like a stream jutting out form the care of the landmark. In an odd way, it was actually beautiful; it looked peaceful and serene in the midst of all that was going on. But more importantly, it felt like this was where I was supposed to be, like a home for the vampire part of me.

I shook my head, clearing away thoughts of the mountain, and steering them back to my missing friends. They were what was important, not the mountain. I walked around to the front of the van, and saw that the keys were missing from the ignition, so I couldn't use it. But there was something even more valuable, drops of blood paving a trail through the thin layer of white snow on the ground.

I sniffed. It was dark enough to be a creature of the night, but it wasn't vampaneze. It was, without a doubt, Mr. Crepsley's. But with the amount of blood he had been losing, I was surprised there wasn't a road of the stuff, not just a few drops. Glalda knew how to hide his tracks.

So know I was faced with a difficult decision. I could flit, and probably catch them instantly. But that ran the risk of burning and running right into them. Or I could follow them at a walk or slow jog. Which wouldn't get me there any faster, but it would give me some secrecy. Adjusting the straps on the backpack, I opted for walking.

It was a long walk, even worse in the frigid air. I noticed that the more I walked, the closer I got to the mountain, and the more uncomfortable I got. Glalda shouldn't be here, and to be honest, Evra shouldn't be here either, but that wasn't his choice.

"Shut up, Vampire!" That froze my blood the second I heard it. It was Glalda's voice, rougher, and somewhat ragged. "I didn't drag you all the way to this mountain to talk."

"You shouldn't have dragged us to the mountain at all!" Gavner spoke now, his voice tight with hate and what sounded like worry. "This place is sacred to vampires, you're kind don't belong here."

"Neither does the green boy, but you haven't said anything to him." Glalda snapped back in reply.

"He isn't holding my friend prisoner to make us do what he wants." Gavner said, hissing through his teeth. I got closer to them, to the point that I could see them in the distance. They were standing on one of the ledges, near what looked like a gate.

"Be quiet, were going in." I ran up the mountain, staying hidden enough so they couldn't see me, but I could see what was going on with them.

They were standing by a gate, cornered by two guards, who were big enough to be pro-wrestlers. "Halt!" The one on the left said, extending a spear. "You are not a vampire!"

The other one stepped up, both had their weapons pointed at Glalda's chest; ready to shishkabab him, if they needed to. "Please let me in, I have something very important to tell you're princes. Besides I have an injured vampire 'friend of mine' who I want to see taken care of." Glalda's voice was so sickly sweet it hurt to listen to it.

"You are not a vampire." The guard repeated, but he looked uncertain.

"No, but I 'm sure they'll want to hear what I have to tell." Glalda said, and then pulled Mr. Crepsley up tight to his chest, to look like he was helping him, but I could see the knife. He couldn't fool me.

"Very well. Gavner Purl, vampire general, do you vouch for yourself, this vampaneze, and this half-human boy?" The guard asked, turning his attention to Gavner.

Gavner glanced over at Glalda, and I knew he could see the knife to, pressing into Mr. Crepsley's back. "I do."

"Then you may enter. Have a good council." The guard backed away and both pressed their fingers to their eyelids and forehead, in a gesture that I knew was significant without knowing why.

As soon as the iron bars snapped shut behind him, I stepped up to where the vampire could see me. Before I could stop them, the words came pouring out of my mouth, "I'. Darren Shan, come to seek council."


End file.
